I was born and grew up in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). I spent a short period of my teenage years living abroad, and when I came back, things shifted. Even now, I often feel like a tourist in my own city. My understanding of Saigon has never felt deep enough, not enough to confidently talk about its history, its culture, or the people who live here.
In July 2025, I joined a half-day walking and learning tour called Played With Old Maps, hosted by Echoing Drum. The tour began inside a small Saigon coffee shop, where we explored different versions of Ho Chi Minh City’s maps and the stories they carried: maps from 1795, 1897, 1923, 1942, 1958, the years before 1975, then 1988 to 2003.
In the second part, we stepped outside and used the 1898 map (shown in this post cover image) as our guide, walking through the city’s main streets to trace how they had expanded, shifted, and transformed over time.
Beyond the Maps
What stayed with me wasn’t the maps themselves, but the small moments that quietly reshaped how I saw the city and the people living in it.
The Narrator
Nghiêm was our tour guide, but I thought of him more as a narrator of the walk. He led our small group of 14 through different historical layers of the same streets. When questions came up, he would pause, shuffle through his stack of worn papers, and pull out images of places that no longer exist. I could see he tried to help us imagine what had disappeared. It felt a little scrappy, but deeply sincere. He genuinely wanted us to see history, not just hear about it.
The People on the Walk
The group itself became part of the experience. Most of the participants were Vietnamese, including some living abroad. We were all drawn by a shared curiosity about the city’s past.
A young boy excitedly traced the map with his finger, explaining to his mother and to Nghiêm how it matched the streets around us.
A student carefully took notes on her printed map, like she afraid of missing a detail.
A gentleman from Hanoi kept asking about legacy food stalls on each street we passed.He tried to tie history to everyday life through taste and memory.
And there was me, listening to Nghiêm’s voice, following where he pointed, observing my surroundings, and taking notes on my phone. I was trying to recall memories of places I drive past every day, but rarely stop to really see.
These small scenes stayed with me. They reminded me that learning happens not only through information, but through people, their curiosity, their questions, and the way they connect stories to the places they stand in.
After days, I had an idea inspired by the trip! It’s still in its early stages, but I’m looking forward to developing it more in the future.
A Narrative-driven Zoo Experience
This experience changed how I think about designing learning for my Zoo app. It is an ongoing exploration of how to design learning as a guided journey. It’s structured, intentional, and flexible enough for discovery.
What if there was an app that transforms a zoo visit into a guided learning journey…
Teachers could lead offline zoo tours built around topics and stories. Each topic would have a narrator guiding learners through animals, plants, and trees. It’s similar to how Nghiêm guided us through the city using maps and storytelling.
Parents and children could choose a topic together and follow a suggested route while learning along the way. Instead of relying only on signage, they would explore the zoo through a connected theme that provides direction and meaning.